Local News

These days, everything is “smart.” Smartphones. Smartwatches. How about a smart laundromat? Behold The Mat in Boulder Creek, formerly the Village Wash. Run by third-generation laundromat owner Brandon Parker and his fiancé Erin Hexem, it’s the first smart laundromat in Boulder Creek, and one of...

A California energy regulator has become so vexed with troubled power provider PG&E following months of planned and unplanned outages it’s started to crackdown. In a Nov. 1 letter to Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Chair Bruce McPherson, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) President...

When Zayante firefighters got the call at 7:11pm on Aug. 4 that their services were needed on the Dixie Fire, they had just hours to pack and deploy. It would be two weeks of grueling attacks, sleepless nights and ever-present danger, battling what would turn...

A decade after Scotts Valley was split in two by redistricting, that city could be “reunified” under a proposal introduced to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. The proposal is among several recommendations the board is considering as the county redraws its supervisorial...

When it rains, it pours—especially in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is designated as a temperate rainforest biome. While Southern California has dabbled in drought for years on end, the Santa Cruz region has a feast-or-famine approach to rainfall in the winter months. The...

The Scotts Valley City Council has approved $6,000 for a tree lighting at the Walgreens parking lot in the King's Village Shopping Center next month. Traditionally the event has been funded by the Scotts Valley Parks & Recreation Advocates nonprofit, but that organization is currently...

As the holiday season approaches, San Lorenzo Valley residents begin to make their lists, clip their Safeway coupons and prepare their pantries for the weeks ahead. Lynn Robinson’s team at Valley Churches United (VCU) in Ben Lomond have also been ramping up in preparation...

The city of Scotts Valley has agreed to settle a lawsuit, over damage caused by stormwater drainage, for $600,000. According to Frederick H. Ebey, of Watsonville-based Grunsky Law Firm, the City has agreed to pay his client, Scott Beam, $450,000, for erosion at his Bean...

The Scotts Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees approved a two-year $13,200 contract with a Phoenix, Ariz.-based company for inclusivity training services.  Inclusion Counts, LLC will provide a series of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) sessions between November 2021 and June 2022, including conducting...

It scrounged-up curtains from Broadway. It sourced seating that originally came from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. And now, the Scotts Valley Community Theater Guild is nearing completion of a performing arts center at the site of the old roller rink. It’s taken about $80,000...